After the little tryst in the hotel room, Peter teleported himself to his apartment several miles away. Making sure that no unwanted guests were present, he took a quick once over of his surroundings. Even though no one had ever broken into his apartment before he was still ever vigilante because the crime rate in New York had skyrocketed since the city was in anarchy a few years ago.
Peter shrugged off his jacket and tossed it on his navy blue couch before making his way to his kitchen. He opened the refrigerator door and pulled out some left over pizza and a carton of milk. Peter sat the carton of milk on the counter before placing the left over pizza in the microwave. After the pizza was done, he took it and the milk into the living room and turned on the television. This had been his routine for the past couple of nights. Have sex with some girl, come home, eat leftover pizza and drink some milk in front the TV. Well, tomorrow won't be the same because he'd have to order some more pizza.
"…WBJS, your local news station." Peter grabbed the remote on the coffee table in front of him to change the channel but stopped as the news anchor continued."The drug that President Petrelli has funded for past four years has now been released for public use. Petresine will be available at your local pharmacy and will be administered in the form of an injection. Petresine is a drug that neutralizes the affects of the E-gene that causes mutations in the body. The most common side effect of the E-gene is a display of excessive amounts of uncontrolled power. For more information…"
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"...please contact your doctor." Simone turned away from the television that was displayed in the pawnshop window. At first glance, the release of the drug would be a miracle but she knew that if it had anything to do with Nathan no good could come from it. Simone briefly wondered if the development of Petresine had anything to do with her daughter. The development of the drug and the kidnapping of her daughter were in sync, both happened four years ago. Simone pushed the thoughts from her mind before entering a local pub. The harsh smell of cigarettes and the abundant clouds of smoke evaded Simone's senses briefly. She fanned the air in front of her to disperse the smoke so she could breathe freely. When she was able to see once again she made her way to the bartender, who was currently wiping down the bar.
"White Russian." Simone ordered the drink as soon as she sat on the stool.
"Yes, I am but I never heard someone call me that aloud!" The bartender said, Nicholas, if his name tag was genuine. At first glance, she could tell that Nicholas had a Russian background, she did not need his failed attempt at flirt to tell her, but he had a British accent. Simone gave him a once over and saw that he was handsome. Tall, about 6'2, with thick curly brown hair and a dashing smile. Although he was very good-looking, he was also younger than the men she usually dated. He had to be five years her junior and the youngest she ever dated was two years. Instead of responding to him, Simone gave him a look that expressed her irritation quite well.
Nicholas raised his hands in surrender with a playful smirk on his face before preparing Simone's drink. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing, why do you ask?" Simone said as she grabbed her drink from his hand. Nicholas leaned on the bar so they were in close proximity.
"I don't know I see something wrong with a beautiful lady sitting in a crappy bar like this on a Saturday night."
"Nothing is wrong; you have nothing to worry about." Simone immediately dismissed what she thought was Nicholas' false concern. Nicholas shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and proceeded to finish his task of cleaning the bar. In that same instance it seemed absurd to even entertain the idea of holding a conversation with the young bartender; Simone couldn't seem to keep her mouth closed. "It's just…my world is falling apart and I don't know what to do."
"You call that nothing?"
"Yes, no, no I do not. I just managed to dig myself into a situation that could have all been avoided if I hadn't been so naïve. I shouldn't have trusted him!" Simone vehemently shouted as she smacked herself in the forehead and looked into Nicholas' brown eyes. What Simone saw was something that she never expected to see, In Nicholas' eyes were compassion, so keenly expressed that Simone immediately looked away.
"Man trouble?"
"Much more than man trouble, it's more like life trouble. I've been searching for someone that is important to me for that past four years. Every shred of evidence that would lead to their whereabouts has either disappeared or was conveniently forgotten."
"What happened? Who disappeared?" Nicholas asked Simone, completely enthralled within her tale. It wasn't everyday that he came across someone in the pub that had problems in their life that did not consist of when was the next day they were coming to get drunk. Before Simone could, answer an angry male patron called to Nicholas to get him a beer. "I'll be right back." The young bartender said before rushing off to appease the raving customer with liquor.
While Nicholas was gone, Simone took the time to think over her situation. Ciara was nowhere to be found. For all Simone knew her daughter could be dead but deep down she knew that it couldn't be true. As a mother Simone had built a connection with her daughter during the brief year they spent together. She knew that Ciara was alive because it felt like Ciara's heart was beating beside her own and that feeling never went away since the day that Simone found out about her untimely pregnancy. Simone could still remember the day that the doctors placed Ciara into her weary arms. The infant's big brown eyes stared up at her with wonder and then a small smile wisped across the small child's face. Even though the doctors repeatedly told Simone that it was impossible for a newborn to smile, Simone knew that they were wrong. The tiny miracle was indeed smiling at her mother and at that moment Simone knew that Ciara was special.
"What happened?" Nicholas asked again, startling Simone, not only by his sudden appearance but also by his presence on the stool beside her.
"Nothing, I've told you too much as it is. Here, this should cover the drink." Simone handed him a hand full of ones and quickly exited the pub, berating herself as the cold outside air hit her face. "What was I thinking; telling a complete stranger my life story like that isn't dangerous. For all I know he could have a relationship with Nathan and then were would I be?"
"Hey!" Someone called.
"I mean, he probably thinks that I'm a stalker."
"Hey, wait!" Someone called again.
"What do I care what he thinks, he's a bartender for goodness sakes!" Someone grabbed Simone's right arm, effectively bringing her out of her thoughts and back to the real world. Simone's instincts took over and she immediately bashed the person's nose with the heel of her left hand.
"OW! What the hell did you do that for?" The person shouted in pain, holding their bleeding nose in their hand. "I think you broke my nose!" at the sound of the person's voice, Simone instantaneously dropped her guard and went to Nicholas' aid.
"I am so sorry!"
"Is this how you repay a person who was trying to help you? You break their bloody nose. Boy you Americans are something else." Nicholas went on. Simone rolled her eyes, pulled his hands from his nose, and inspected it. She discovered that it wasn't broken, just swollen.
"Well, if you hadn't snuck up on me—"
"Snuck up on you? Didn't hear me back there calling you?"
"Obviously not. Hold your nose here and apply pressure for a few minutes. It would stop bleeding soon." Simone instructed as she guided his hand to the juncture between the bridge of his nose and his nostrils. She turned away from Nicholas and proceeded walking towards her old apartment building.
"I don't understand how you couldn't hear me; I had to be louder than an auctioneer back there."
"Look," Simone stopped abruptly and faced the whimpering man that was soon trying her patience, "I said I was sorry, it's not that bad. Besides, I've seen worse."
"What are you a nurse, helping people get out the hospital?" Nicholas asked sarcastically still holding his nose and tilting his back slightly.
"No, I put people in them." Simone and he both froze that moment. "I can't believe I told you that." Simone said as she stared into equally widened eyes.
"You're not going to kill me now, are you?"
"No, not in less I have to. Here take this and don't tilt your head back like that or you'll choke on your own blood." Simone handed him a few napkins to wipe the remaining blood off his face. At Nicholas' lack of response Simone assured him that she was not going to kill him and he had no reason to worry.
"So, the person that your looking for…"
"The street is not the right place to talk about something as serious as this." The various people, although not many could be working for anyone or tell someone what they overheard. "Follow me."
"Where are we going?"
"Goddammit, just follow me!"
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"Sad, isn't it?" said a voice from behind Peter. Peter tensed but calmed when he realized who was speaking.
"What are you doing here Hiro?" Peter asked the one person that he called his friend.
"You know why." Peter closed his eyes. He knew why, all right and he sure as hell didn't feel like dealing with the same shit all over again. "I need your help."
"We've been through this a million times Hiro, you cannot change the past. If we could it would have already happened the first time we tried." Peter stood up from the couch and went to the open window that was just to the right of it. Hiro remained at his place behind the couch staring at Peter with something of his old self concealed behind his features.
"I'm not trying to change the past anymore, I'm trying to change the future."
"Why? Wait, isn't that the same thing. What do you know about the future that needs changing? Is there some grand crisis like another exploding man, Hiro? Is Sylar back, terrorizing the known world with his powers?"
"Don't belittle me Peter. You maybe content with the way that your useless life has gone by so far but I'm not, not when I know that I can do something to prevent the impending enslavement of the entire world from taking place."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Peter asked as he ran his hands through his hair wearily. He was slightly affected by the mini speech that Hiro gave earlier because the truth was that Peter is far from content about the way that his life has been going and wouldn't adverse to realistic changes.
"Your not suspicious at all about the required injects that your brother has implemented for the entire United States?" Hiro pointed to the news broadcast that Peter was watching earlier. Peter didn't responded, deciding that his blank face was enough of a response. "The medication will turn every evolved human back to what we were before… normal, which we are not meant to be."
"I don't see what the problem is… Nathan is eliminating the differences between us that make us outsiders. I'm sure that the release of this new drug has relieved some parents of their worry that their kids will be killed because a gang of vigilantes decided that their child was a threat. I'm also positive that this will save us from an encounter with another Sylar and—"
"That's just the thing, the drugs is pushing us into a position where someone with Sylar's beliefs would be able to take over easily. Think about it, if the numbers of evolved mutants dwindled until there were only a few remaining, those few could rule the world within a matter of minutes. Take you for example; you're the most powerful person that I have ever come across. You have the ability to absorb other people's powers and use them as your own. The amount of power that you could obtain Peter is virtually endless. Just think, if there was another person with your power that became misguided they could do what ever they wanted and no one would be able to stop them. And I'm not completely convinced that your brother's intentions are not selfish."
"You have a point, but tell me this…what has my brother done to have you question his integrity? He has always been for equality amongst us all. He's one of us for goodness sakes!"
"If that was all true, why create a mandatory drug that takes away the one thing that he loves so much, that up until a few years ago he was fighting to save?" Peter shrugged his shoulders. "To answer your question, I became suspicious of Nathan the day that he took you up in the air to explode."Peter leaned back in shock, completely thrown off by Hiro's response. That shock, though immediately was replaced by anger.
"Nathan tried to save us. We didn't get far enough away in time. It's not his fault what happened."
"I beg to differ." Hiro said under his breath before taking a seat on Peter's couch in order to rest his legs. He had been running all day from the various police offers that were chasing him for crimes against the country. He was trying to save millions of people and the government decided to name him a terrorist. The whole idea to Hiro was ludicrous. "Okay, I can see that you are sensitive—""
I'm not sensitive." Peter interrupted, joining Hiro on the couch. Hiro ignored him.
"—when it comes to your family but if you don't believe me ask Nathan himself. I'm sure he won't have a problem with telling you the truth and if he does…" Hiro paused before tapping his head with his index finger, signaling Peter to use his mind reading abilities on Nathan. Hiro teleported out of the room before Peter could say no to his plan. He thought that Peter needed sometime to think about the conversation that took place between the two and hopefully see that Hiro's concerns were serious.